The invention relates to registration of products to a particular consumer, such as product registration of software or a television; and more particularly, to new systems and methods for automating, at least in part, the process of registering products to a respective consumer.
Many companies that sell products provide a process for allowing a consumer to register a purchased product with the company which documents the consumer as the owner and user of a particular product purchased by the consumer. For instance, a product provider, such as a manufacturer, seller, distributor, and/or retailer, may provide a website where a consumer can register a product. The product will typically include information describing how the product can be registered, such as by filling out a registration card and mailing it to the provider, or completing an online registration form. The registration will include product data, such as the make and model of the product and in some cases a serial number identifying the particular product. The registration will also request consumer data from the consumer, such as the consumer's name, address, contact information, such as email address and/or phone number. The consumer data may also include more personal information such as age, gender, income, and other personal information. Thus, the product registration gives the product provider a record of the relationship between a product and the consumer that purchased the product, in addition to other data that can be obtained regarding the consumers, such as consumer demographics.
Product registration can provide many benefits to the product providers, and to the consumers. For example, product registration allows the product providers to contact the consumer with product information, such as product updates, recalls, and warranty information. The registration can also allow the consumer to provide feedback and reviews of the product. In addition, registration can serve as a verification of ownership if the product is stolen or lost. From a marketing perspective, product registration allows product providers to communicate with their customers, providing an opportunity to up-sell their products, cross-sell other products such as warranties and service agreements, and market new products. The information obtained from product registration also allows the providers to maintain a database of their customers and obtain marketing data about their customers which can be used to develop and implement marketing plans and maintain a relationship with their customers. For instance, special offers and promotions may be offered to registered consumers.
However, many consumers forego product registration for various reasons. Some consumers prefer not to register their products because of privacy concerns, and they prefer not to be contacted and/or solicited as a result of product registration. In addition, some consumers avoid product registration because it is time consuming and a hassle to register. Registering can be a painful experience because the consumer needs to manually enter a lot of information, such as the product data and consumer data described above.
Nowadays, most point of sale (“POS”) purchases of products are processed electronically using a computerized cash register system, also called an electronic point of sale system. The cash register system typically has a “cash register,” which is now quite commonly a standalone computer with point of sale software, having a cash drawer for storing cash and coins. Usually, the cash register is operably coupled to some form of product scanning device, such as a barcode scanner. The individual cash registers may also be networked to a central database and back office system capable of processing payment transactions, tracking inventory, etc. In order to process a purchase, the product is entered into the electronic point of sale system, such as by scanning a barcode on the product, or otherwise entering a product identification code into the POS system. The cash register system will typically also have an electronic payment device, such as a credit/debit card terminal.
Indeed, electronic payments have become more and more common for consumers to pay merchants for goods or services. Electronic payments come in various forms, the most common being financial account cards such as credit cards and debit cards, but also include gift cards, ATM cards, payments such as ACH, e Check, PayPal®, and other forms of payment capable of being electronically executed. In addition to fixed location credit card terminals, payment applications (software programs) have been developed for accepting electronic payments on mobile communication devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers, and laptop computers. In this way, electronic payments can be accepted almost anywhere.
While financial account cards are quite convenient, even more convenient electronic payment forms are becoming available, such as near field communication (NFC) devices and “mobile wallets” implemented on mobile communication devices like smartphones. NFC devices are small tags (sometimes referred to as RFID tags, radio-frequency identification) having encrypted identification information for referencing a financial account. The mobile wallet enabled smartphones also have an NFC device incorporated into their electronics. The NFC device or smartphone need only be placed in close proximity (as used herein, close proximity includes being in contact with) to a merchant NFC reader in order to establish a communication connection. The NFC reader then communicates with the NFC device or smartphone in order to exchange sufficient information to complete a purchase transaction. For example, the NFC device or smartphone may transmit encrypted financial account or customer identification information to the NFC reader, which can then be used to process the purchase transaction. As with a typical credit/debit card transaction, the customer may also have to input a personal identification number (PIN) or other verification data in order to authorize and complete the transaction.
In order to process an electronic payment transaction, a merchant enters financial account data tendered by the customer into the electronic payment device, be it a payment terminal, mobile communication device, NFC reader or the like. For example, the customer may tender a credit card, and the merchant may enter the credit card data into the payment terminal by swiping the card in a card reader of a payment terminal to read the data from the magnetic strip on the credit card. The merchant also enters the amount of the transaction into the payment terminal, which may be automatically executed by an electronic POS system. Certain verification information may also be entered, such as a card verification value (“CVV”) and/or card expiration date.
The transaction data, including the card number, purchase amount and verification information are transmitted to a merchant account provider, or a third party payment processor, such as First Data, which then sends the data to a merchant account provider. A merchant account is part of merchant services provided by a debit/credit card payment processor and/or independent sales organization (“ISO”) (also referred to as the merchant services provider) based on an agreement (referred to as the merchant service agreement) between a merchant (e.g., a retailer), a financial institution (e.g., a merchant bank that issues the debit/credit card), the payment processor and/or ISO, for the settlement of debit/credit card transactions. In particular, the payment processor and/or ISO may be a bank or underwritten by a bank. The merchant account provider is the account provider that provides the electronic payment processing services to the merchant. The merchant account provider then sends the financial account transaction, within batched transactions, through one of the electronic payment networks, such as Visa®, Mastercard®, or American Express®, to the prepaid card issuer (or the bank of the card issuer). Typically, the credit/debit card issuer then pays the merchant account provider the purchase amount less a transaction fee, and the merchant account provider then pays the merchant the amount of the electronic payment, minus a fee for processing the transaction. Alternatively, the prepaid card issuer may directly pay the merchant the amount of the electronic payment, minus a fee for processing the transaction. In summary, the transaction steps in settling debit/credit card transactions include authorization, clearing, funding, and the handling of any chargebacks.
The computers systems and communication systems required to process the above-described electronic payments is called an electronic payment processing system. The electronic transaction flow is similar to the credit card transaction described above for the other forms of electronic payments, such as debit cards, eChecks, ACH, NFC tag payments, and mobile wallet payments.